“A Remedy for Troubled Doctors”

Today’s Wall Street Journal has a fascinating article about a California program that helps determine if physicians who have been disciplined can start practicing again. The goal of PACE (Physician Assessment and Clinical Education Program) is "

Harvard University patient-safety expert Lucian Leape estimates that as many as 10% of the nation’s 750,000 physicians will demonstrate "significant deficiencies in knowledge or skills" at some point in their career. Combine that with other problems, including abusive behavior toward colleagues and patients, drug and alcohol dependency, stress-related mental-health issues and age-related cognitive decline, and at least a third of physicians will have a problem that poses a threat to safe patient care at one time or another, Dr. Leape says.

This sounds like an excellent program – one that is in the best interest of physicians and patients.